Great Books.

tingra · **Posted:** 02 Jan 2010 4:45 pm

yes i have city of secrets again but thats on the untidy bookshelf in the other room :lol:

i have thousands of books and they are stuffed in boxes and an old delapitated shelf unit that is only kept together by the books :lol:

that is the tidy bookshelf in the dining room :lol:

Thomas D. · **Posted:** 02 Feb 2010 10:11 am

Hello ALL,
Febs edition of the Postscript books list has arrived..................

Something for the weekend Sir ? :wink:

The Enigma of the Knights Templar by Marilyn Hopkins now only 5.99
Described as a 'scrupulously researched book in which the truth seems stranger than fiction and conspiracy theories.

The Franciscans in the middle ages, by Michael Robson.
A look at the order and its chequered history at only 9.99

The Megalithic European, by Julian Cope still at only 9.99

Scythian and Thracian Antiquities in Oxford 3.99

Jesus in the Manichean Writings, Majella Franzmann. 14.99

The New Q, Richard Valantasis, 4.99
A scholarly reconstruction of the putative common source for the Synoptic gospels which is very similar to the extant Gospel of Thomas ( the other one !)

All good stuff, allegedly! :wink:

TD.

richard.webster · **Posted:** 02 Feb 2010 10:34 am

Thomas D. wrote:

The Megalithic European, by Julian Cope still at only 9.99

Thoroughly recommended. I thought mine was good value for about twenty-five quid, so it's a steal for a tenner. Big, chunky 8" x 12" hardback, packed with photos and maps, practical info about finding the various sites as well as their history, and some very well written text by JC. Plus a slip case. How much more could one ask for?

Just wish I could find his first one - on UK sites - for such a reasonable price.

Pilrig · **Posted:** 04 Feb 2010 7:34 pm

tingra wrote:

Ah thanks TD

we have a few good book places here on the coast and i can spend hours browsing much to my other halfs disgust :roll:

heres a few of mine on the tidy bookshelf :lol:

Very interesting bookcase. My eagle eye spotted Concise History of Scotland by Sir Fitzroy MacLean. I bought a copy of this book for my late dad's birthday. Ian Fleming allegedly based the James Bond character on Sir Fitzroy.

Secret Zodiacs of Washington D.C. now that looks intriguing and 'Lost Keyish' !

The Eco novels and the Kate Mosse novels and The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception - good reading !

Alan Shearer ???!!!

Is the book about Byzantium written by John Julius Norwich ?

BUT... Inside the Brotherhood ???? tendentious, malicious nonsense... a fitting addition to your dustbin !

richard.webster · **Posted:** 21 Feb 2010 1:31 am

I just got this. It looks really interesting.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

Imagining a journey through England in the 1390s, the book describes the sights, sounds and smells one would have encountered, with a wealth of detail on day to day living - everything from how to find accommodation, the food one would have eaten, what you could buy at the market and for how much, and so on, to give a real flavour of life at that time. Sounds like an interesting approach. Very much looking forward to reading it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Travellers ... =1-1-spell

rain · **Posted:** 21 Feb 2010 3:33 am

Quote:

I just got this. It looks really interesting.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

Imagining a journey through England in the 1390s, the book describes the sights, sounds and smells one would have encountered, with a wealth of detail on day to day living - everything from how to find accommodation, the food one would have eaten, what you could buy at the market and for how much, and so on, to give a real flavour of life at that time. Sounds like an interesting approach. Very much looking forward to reading it.

Richard, Does it have Gardens and their medicines? Let me know it sounds really interesting.

richard.webster · **Posted:** 21 Feb 2010 11:06 am

rain wrote:

Richard, Does it have Gardens and their medicines? Let me know it sounds really interesting.

Yes to both, Rain, judging by the index. And masses about vegetables, too.

Looks like a really fascinating book - highly recommended. Even though I haven't read it yet. :wink:

ndawe · **Posted:** 05 Dec 2010 7:45 pm

Translation into English of Maurice Magre's "Le Sang de Toulouse" Part I

From the foreword by Richard Stanley -

“...James Bourne's English language translation of Maurice Magre's lost Cathar masterpiece is a literary event of the first degree. This epic gothic fantasy, reminiscent of the very best of Tolkien, Mervyn Peake or Robert E. Howard, is all the more powerful for its basis in meticulously researched historical fact and Magre's intimate knowledge of the landscape and culture his words so richly evoke. His first person account of the last stand of the Cathars is vast, vivid and noble, his incantatory prose poetic and savage by turns, his vision and message uncompromising in its purity. 'The Blood of Toulouse' opens a window into a dark, medieval world lit by the holy hellfire of the Inquisition and illuminated by timeless dreams and desires making it essential reading for aficionados of the fantastic as well as all those who would seek to understand this little known but pivotal turning point in European history, the apocalyptic chain of events that lead to the death of the age of chivalry. ..”

Available in both paperback and e-book as a pdf file from -

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/t ... i/13999360

tingra · **Posted:** 05 Dec 2010 10:47 pm

Well I enjoyed it :lol:

Thanks for the link Nicole

ndawe · **Posted:** 06 Dec 2010 3:19 am

Roger - I had a feeling you'd like the poetic hyperbole. Yes it's a novel, but for those who have never had the chance to imbibe a bit of Magre along the way I still think it's worth getting out of bed for.

Then again I've always wanted to translate Pierre Benoit's "Montsalvat"...

Eginolf · **Posted:** 06 Dec 2010 6:02 am

Maurice Magre wrote that the cathars were the care-takers of the grail cup. :lol:

BTW.
In 1929 he published "La Nuit de Haschich et d'Opium".

BULLDOGNIC · **Joined:** 24 Apr 2008 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1873

Quote:

You're recommending this to a forum of miscreants who think Dan Brown is a scholar and historian.

But surely he is? It say's everything in The Da Vinci Code is fact, don't shatter my illusion :roll:

I suppose next you will try and tell me Santa Claus doesn't exist, and we all know that's just not true :lol:

Regards
Nic

BULLDOGNIC · **Joined:** 24 Apr 2008 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1873

Hi All,
Santa was very good to me

, I don't know if this book has been mentioned before, but especially for Bergeredearcadie and Tingra.
I've just got The Lost Gold of Rome by Daniel Costa. I'm only up to page 20 so can't give a great review, however it certainly seems an interesting read, even if he does jump about dates quite a lot ( you have probably already read this, but I thought I'd let you know just in case you haven't ).
Enjoy your Boxing Day
Regards
Nic

Pilrig · **Posted:** 27 Dec 2010 10:50 am

I'm currently reading the excellent Electric Eden by Rob Young http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Eden-U ... 852&sr=8-1 from Vaughan Williams, Ewan McColl, the Incredible String Band to Talk Talk...wonderful, best book I've read in 2010

BULLDOGNIC · **Joined:** 24 Apr 2008 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1873

Quote:

I've just got The Lost Gold of Rome by Daniel Costa. I'm only up to page 20 so can't give a great review, however it certainly seems an interesting read, even if he does jump about dates quite a lot ( you have probably already read this, but I thought I'd let you know just in case you haven't ).

Just finished this book, the author doesn't really come up with any new theories to the whereabouts of Alaric's treasure ( the usual River Busento etc ).
However I did enjoy it, as it gave details accounts of the various sackings of Rome and the relationships between the Popes, Kings and Emperors from AD 100 to AD 900. So lots of history to browse, I take back what I said about the dates jumping about ( this was just during the first chapter or so, to set the scene ). Fluidly written if not groundbreaking

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0750 ... d_i=468294
Regards
Nic

rain · **Posted:** 30 Dec 2010 3:33 am

BULLDOGNIC wrote:

Quote:

I've just got The Lost Gold of Rome by Daniel Costa. I'm only up to page 20 so can't give a great review, however it certainly seems an interesting read, even if he does jump about dates quite a lot ( you have probably already read this, but I thought I'd let you know just in case you haven't ).

Just finished this book, the author doesn't really come up with any new theories to the whereabouts of Alaric's treasure ( the usual River Busento etc ).
However I did enjoy it, as it gave details accounts of the various sackings of Rome and the relationships between the Popes, Kings and Emperors from AD 100 to AD 900. So lots of history to browse, I take back what I said about the dates jumping about ( this was just during the first chapter or so, to set the scene ). Fluidly written if not groundbreaking

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0750 ... d_i=468294
Regards
Nic

I haven't read the book but doesn't it mention the List of popes as containing information?

BULLDOGNIC · **Joined:** 24 Apr 2008 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1873

Quote:

I haven't read the book but doesn't it mention the List of popes as containing information?

Hi Rain, yes if I remember rightly at the back is a list of the earliest Roman Popes. I would check for you but I've given the book straight to my mum to read

Here is good old Wiki's link which seems to correlate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_popes
Have a good NYE everyone

Regards
Nic

TCP · **Posted:** 31 Dec 2010 6:50 pm

Ronald Hutton's Triumph of the Moon offers a wonderful, no-nonsense, fresh and, most importantly, accurate account of the development of Masonic structure and ritual from late 16th century Scotland.

One quote I found useful:

"The context of the development is also plain, for Scotland at the time had a small and cohesive national cultural elite, led by a young king with intellectual ambitions and abilities who determined to take his nation to the forefront of mainstream European civilization. Schaw had effectively harnessed its masons for this project. The reasons for the success of this venture are also patent, for it furnished local intellectuals with a safe space in which they could discuss any concepts except those relating to religion and politics, with colleagues bonded by an ideology of equality and brotherhood. It also offered some framework of mystical symbolism in a nation whose Church had been more than normally denuded of this by the Reformation."

TCP

Eginolf · **Posted:** 08 Jan 2011 9:56 am

I've just read "Ru" by Kim Thúy. I was touched deeply.

ndawe · **Posted:** 31 Jan 2011 12:47 pm

For sale in this month's Postscript magazine at www.psbooks.co.uk, the quite hard to find "Heraldry in the Vatican" by Jacques Martin -

"A Vatican official for more than five decades, Cardinal Martin (1908-92) became Prefect of the Pontifical Household in 1969. Intrigued from the start by the abundance of armorial blazons there, he became an expert on the ecclesiastical heraldry of the Vatican. In this well-illustrated volume he shares that knowledge, using heraldry to take his readers on 20 "historical walks" throught 58 pontificates, from Eugene IV (1431-47) to John Paul II. Edited and introduced by Peter Van Duren. "

pub Van Duren 1987 h/b
Reduced from £45.00 to £9.99

tingra · **Posted:** 30 Sep 2011 6:52 pm

A great book that keeps you captivated from start to finish....loved it

Hitler’s Holy Relics by Sidney Kirkpatrick

During the Nazi march across Europe, thousands of priceless artworks and antiquities were systematically looted, including the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. The Crown Jewels were especially important because of the significance they had with the German people and the fact that the Nazis used the collection to legitimize their barbaric regime.

At the end of World War II, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton became aware that the Crown Jewels had vanished from top-secret bunkers carved deep into the bedrock beneath Nuremberg castle. Realizing the possibility that the missing jewels could be used as potent weapons if they landed in the hands of unrepentant Nazis, the two generals ordered Lt. Walter Horn to track down and secure the missing loot. Horn, a German-born American and a professor of art history at the University of California, was given a mere three weeks to accomplish this almost impossible task.

Lt. Horn realized the daunting challenge given to him, especially since his search would begin in Nuremberg, a war-torn city that was being prepared for the war crime tribunals. Despite his misgivings, he began by searching the bunker for clues. He eventually zeroed in on two city councilmen who had strong connections to the Nazi government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Horn

http://sidneykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Holy-Reli ... 1416590625

from chapter 24……Operation body snatch….

While inspecting the Bernterode mine, a unit of infantry had turned up a suspicious masonary wall with the mortar still fresh. The soldiers smashed through the wall and tunnelled through six feet of masonry where they uncovered a massive framed latticed door that was inexplicably padlocked from the inside. In front of them loomed a mammoth Nazi crypt and shrine. They found Germanic runes and other symbols on the walls and ceiling and everywhere they looked were artifacts, regimental standards and flags. There were more than two hundred banners symmetrically arranged some of ancient origin. A metal chest contained portraits of all of Germanys great leaders from medieval times until the present. The shrines central passageway lead to four bays, each containing a coffin. The body of Frederick Wilhelm I, identified as the soldier king rested in one bay, King Frederick the Great lay in another, Field Marshal von Hindenburg in the third bay and the fourth coffin draped with red and black bunting and an enormous Nazi flag was empty, the letters written across the coffin lid spelled Adolf Hitler.

http://www.monumentsmen.com/documents_and_photos.php

richard.webster · **Posted:** 30 Sep 2011 10:04 pm

tingra wrote:

A great book that keeps you captivated from start to finish....loved it

Hitler’s Holy Relics by Sidney Kirkpatrick

Thanks Tingra, sounds excellent, right up my street. I just ordered a copy; can't wait to read it.

This is the UK Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Holy-Re ... 758&sr=1-1

And to reciprocate, I'd highly recommend this recent read:

She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor. It's four linked, mini-biographies of women who ruled in all but name at various times in medieval England - Mathilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of Valois and Margaret of Anjou - bookended with an account of the various succession shenanigans after the death of Henry VIII, and the coming to the throne of Mary, and then Elizabeth.

Very good book, covering a lot of history, and four very interesting women.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Wolves-Wome ... 117&sr=1-1

BULLDOGNIC · **Joined:** 24 Apr 2008 2:43 pm **Posts:** 1873

richard.webster wrote:

tingra wrote:

A great book that keeps you captivated from start to finish....loved it

Hitler’s Holy Relics by Sidney Kirkpatrick

Thanks Tingra, sounds excellent, right up my street. I just ordered a copy; can't wait to read it.

This is the UK Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitlers-Holy-Re ... 758&sr=1-1

And to reciprocate, I'd highly recommend this recent read:

She Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth by Helen Castor. It's four linked, mini-biographies of women who ruled in all but name at various times in medieval England - Mathilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of Valois and Margaret of Anjou - bookended with an account of the various succession shenanigans after the death of Henry VIII, and the coming to the throne of Mary, and then Elizabeth.

Very good book, covering a lot of history, and four very interesting women.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/She-Wolves-Wome ... 117&sr=1-1

Thanks Tingra and Richard,
"Hitlers Holy Relics" looks particularly interesting. There is also some good stuff in Tingra's link, I knew the Natzis plundered but I'm shocked at the extent and the brazen attitude towards "their" new "found" treasures

Regards
Nic

rain · **Posted:** 30 Sep 2011 11:42 pm

tingra wrote:

A great book that keeps you captivated from start to finish....loved it

Hitler’s Holy Relics by Sidney Kirkpatrick

During the Nazi march across Europe, thousands of priceless artworks and antiquities were systematically looted, including the Crown Jewels of the Holy Roman Empire. The Crown Jewels were especially important because of the significance they had with the German people and the fact that the Nazis used the collection to legitimize their barbaric regime.

At the end of World War II, Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George S. Patton became aware that the Crown Jewels had vanished from top-secret bunkers carved deep into the bedrock beneath Nuremberg castle. Realizing the possibility that the missing jewels could be used as potent weapons if they landed in the hands of unrepentant Nazis, the two generals ordered Lt. Walter Horn to track down and secure the missing loot. Horn, a German-born American and a professor of art history at the University of California, was given a mere three weeks to accomplish this almost impossible task.

Lt. Horn realized the daunting challenge given to him, especially since his search would begin in Nuremberg, a war-torn city that was being prepared for the war crime tribunals. Despite his misgivings, he began by searching the bunker for clues. He eventually zeroed in on two city councilmen who had strong connections to the Nazi government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Horn

http://sidneykirkpatrick.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Hitlers-Holy-Reli ... 1416590625

from chapter 24……Operation body snatch….

While inspecting the Bernterode mine, a unit of infantry had turned up a suspicious masonary wall with the mortar still fresh. The soldiers smashed through the wall and tunnelled through six feet of masonry where they uncovered a massive framed latticed door that was inexplicably padlocked from the inside. In front of them loomed a mammoth Nazi crypt and shrine. They found Germanic runes and other symbols on the walls and ceiling and everywhere they looked were artifacts, regimental standards and flags. There were more than two hundred banners symmetrically arranged some of ancient origin. A metal chest contained portraits of all of Germanys great leaders from medieval times until the present. The shrines central passageway lead to four bays, each containing a coffin. The body of Frederick Wilhelm I, identified as the soldier king rested in one bay, King Frederick the Great lay in another, Field Marshal von Hindenburg in the third bay and the fourth coffin draped with red and black bunting and an enormous Nazi flag was empty, the letters written across the coffin lid spelled Adolf Hitler.

http://www.monumentsmen.com/documents_and_photos.php

Do you have any comment Tingra that the Kennedy's are involved?

Quote:

How does Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis figure into your story?
This was the book that she wanted written when she was an editor at Doubleday, but due to the ill-health of Walter Horn, the book never got beyond the planning stages. Caroline Kennedy, when she was working for the Metropolitan Museum, brought the subject to her mother’s attention. I am the grateful recipient of their collaboration as I have drawn on the extensive oral interviews that were conducted in anticipation of the earlier book being written.

The author poses some very relevant questions, do you have any comment on Sidney D Kirkpatrick's questions Tingra?

Quote:

Continue Reading
How I Came to Write This Book
My initial interest wasn’t in General Patton and Heinrich Himmler, but with the holy relic known as the Spear of Destiny, the spear-point that a Roman centurion was said to have used to pierce Christ at the Crucifixion. I was fascinated by how this relic has been venerated over the centuries, that it wasn’t property of the church, as is the Shroud of Turin and most other holy relics, and how world monarchs, from Constantine to Napoleon, and finally Hitler, coveted the artifact. The challenge was how to tell the story in a compelling and personal way. How to humanize the story. I’m not a medievalist, and even if I had the credentials to tackle the subject, the documentary record doesn’t reveal what Constantine and Charlemagne and Napoleon really thought about the Holy Lance, or why they, and so many other world monarchs, went to such lengths to lay claim to it. Did they really believe in the spear’s alleged mystical power, or was possession of the artifact and the greater collection Holy Roman Empire Crown Jewels merely a matter of political expediency? Every emperor must have his crown, and spear too, perhaps. So I had given up on the idea of telling this story. Then, while I was digging through some boxes of recently declassified reports in the National Archives, in College Park, Maryland, I happened upon a report by Lieutenant Walter Horn. He turned out to be the officer who had been plucked out of the ranks and sent on the mission to Nuremberg, Germany to lay claim to the Spear and the other Crown Jewels on behalf of Generals Patton and Eisenhower and the Allied Army. As it turned out, a neighbor of the Horn family was a big fan of my Edgar Cayce book. She was also the best friend of Walter Horn’s widow. The rest naturally fell into place. I had a great story, and thanks to the support of the Horn family, I had my own treasure trove of material to write it. A Pandora’s Box, really.

rain · **Posted:** 01 Oct 2011 12:37 am

While looking in the above book I saw one the responses was by a fellow named Noah Charney he also wrote what looks like an interesting book.

Stealing the Mystic Lamb: The True Story of the World's Most Coveted Masterpiece [Hardcover]

http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Mystic-L ... 1586488007

It makes me feel sorry for this piece of artwork it's been through so much.

Quote:

Product Description
Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece is on any art historian’s list of the ten most important paintings ever made. Often referred to by the subject of its central panel, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, it represents the fulcrum between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. It is also the most frequently stolen artwork of all time.
Since its completion in 1432, this twelve-panel oil painting has been looted in three different wars, burned, dismembered, forged, smuggled, illegally sold, censored, hidden, attacked by iconoclasts, hunted by the Nazis and Napoleon, used as a diplomatic tool, ransomed, rescued by Austrian double-agents, and stolen a total of thirteen times.

In this fast-paced, real-life thriller, art historian Noah Charney unravels the stories of each of these thefts. In the process, he illuminates the whole fascinating history of art crime, and the psychological, ideological, religious, political, and social motivations that have led many men to covet this one masterpiece above all others.

http://www.noahcharney.com/index.htm

Quote:

Praise for Stealing the Mystic Lamb

The chapter titles in "Stealing the Mystic Lamb" sound like Indiana Jones movies – “Thieves of Revolution and Empire,” “The Magician in the Red Turban,” “Raising the Buried Treasure” – and they’re just as action-packed. Considered a Renaissance first, a benchmark of artistic grandiosity, the treasure involved is a large 12-panel oil painting, the "Ghent Altarpiece" (also called "Adoration of the Mystic Lamb.") Since its 1432 completion, the masterpiece has been stolen seven times, more than any other work in history.

Author Noah Charney, a man with the enviable job of studying art crime, chronicles the painting's dramatic history, from the peaceful early days in Ghent, Belgium, and on through wartime plunders, hunts led by Napoleon, and heroic rescues. During World War II, Hitler was convinced that the painting contained a coded map to lost Catholic treasures, perhaps the key to supernatural powers. He wanted it for his personal collection, and would rather see it burned than in the Allied hands. The Nazis indeed got hold of the piece, but before they could pass it on or destroy it, a group of Allied detectives stumbled on a clue that saved the stolen artwork, for the time being at least.

In scrupulous detail, Charney divulges the secrets of the revered painting’s past, and in doing so, gives readers a history lesson on art crime, a still-prospering black market.

-Christian Science Monitor

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